HARINGEY Council’s old factory—a video tour inside

'Shaftesbury House 22 April 2026 ~ photo credit: Martin Ball

• In 2020, Haringey Council bought a disused factory in Enfield Borough
• Last year our council sold it for a capital loss of £1,900,000
• The running costs over 4.5 years were c. £500,000
• The new owner is trying to demolish it

Haringey Council bought Shaftesbury House against the advice of the supposed users, the Peacock light industrial estate.

The purchase was one of nine irregular council deals considered by the external investigator Chris Buss in a version of the Report commissioned by the council itself (the "full" Report sent to the Metropolitan Police).

The tired old building was once described as a sh*thole, but the council's regeneration team considered it was good enough in which to decant a number of Tottenham businesses.

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The council's rolling regeneration fiasco has many features

1. By working together with their-then HDV partner (Lendlease) Haringey Council's intention was—by Compulsory Purchase—to force thriving businesses out of our Borough … and then to demolish the freehold-owned premises of the Peacock Estate
2. It is an irony that the new owners now want to demolish Haringey's old factory in Enfield. Our council may have overpaid by about a fifth for the building, which was always worth only a little more than the value of the land alone
3. It is a further irony that the current demolition in Enfield is itself also running into problems—photos below
4. This is an example and case study of how Haringey Council can and does waste taxpayer cash
5. The cumulative losses on the Shaftesbury deal are around £2,500,000, which is a small fraction of the total losses that the Council made on many property deals transacted in the 36 months between May 2018 and May 2021
6. In the linked video below, the mention of the council leader and the council member for regeneration, refers to the Admin prior to the current Administration. It is of course, the same Majority Group Party which continued to be in charge
7. The misguided and mishandled Decision to buy the factory was made in late 2019 and the losses on this single deal began to accrue from the date of purchase on 2 July 2020
8. That huge losses on council property wheeling & dealing began to be generated several years ago, makes the council's financial position today much worse, after allowing for inflation and the loss of interest
9. We may never know the total extent of the monies wasted and the real benefit lost to Haringey residents. Or in economic terms, the Opportunity Cost
10. Today, Haringey Council has millions of pounds of public money less for public benefit, than it otherwise would have. Public losses were other's private gains.

A tour ~ Haringey Council's factory

Muti makes a pitch for using the building as a community arts centre, Studio 101.

Was this a missed opportunity by London's Borough of Culture 2027 ?

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Enfield Council's enforcement letters (below) are dated 17 March and are posted on the front. There seem to be compliance issues relating to The Building Act 1984  (Sections 81– 83):

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